The Stone Sisters: Lyssa (The Stones Sisters Book 1) (25 page)

“Mind if I stick with you two?
 
I really don’t drink,” she asked.

Anna smiled, “Sure.
 
At least now I don’t feel like the only loser here.”

“Do you think with my sister I could get away with coming home drunk?”

Anna laughed and Ryan looked over at them.
 
She asked, “So, you two wanna dance or something?
 
It looks like some kids are dancing over there.”

Anna smiled, “I don’t dance, but Ryan does.
 
Ryan, dance with Lexa.”

Ryan looked put out, but he grabbed Lexa’s hand and took her into the living room where a bunch of people were dancing.
 
Just as they were about to start, the music slowed and everyone coupled off.
 
They looked at each other and he took her hand, his arm snaking around her waist.

“Sorry.
 
I didn’t think Anna would do this to you,” she said.

“Anna likes to make me uncomfortable.”

She laughed, “I like doing that to Lyssa.
 
You the protective type too?”

“Your sister is protective?”

“Yes she is.”

He looked at her a moment and asked, “Then why isn’t she here?”

She smiled sadly, “My sister’s heart has been broken for the first time, that’s the only reason.
 
Plus, she had no idea we were going to a party.
 
She thought I was going to your house tonight.
 
Hell, I thought we were too, at first.”

The only thing she could think was that Lyssa had restricted her look ahead to Hunters only and hadn’t noticed Lexa was going to a party.
 
That had to be it, because she could not see Lyssa letting her go otherwise.
 
Unless, her sister was that far gone.
 
No.
 
No, she couldn’t think that way.
 
She turned her eyes up to look at Ryan.
 
He may not have been a nice guy, but being in his arms was fun.
 
He was sexy after all.

“You met my parents before, huh?”
 
His voice was low and reminded her of warm honey.

“I did.
 
They’re nice people.”

“Too nice,” he said, “There are too many dangers out there.”

“Wow, you really sound like my sister.
 
Sure, there are dangers out there, but we can’t live constantly hiding.
 
Eventually, there will be no reason to continue living.”

He held her as they swayed to the music.
 
There was something about being close to him, something about his scent that made her heart quicken, but she didn’t dare tell him.
 
She was sworn off men, she reminded herself.

“You can’t live if you’re dead,” he said softly.

Looking up into his eyes she said, “You can’t live if you’re dead inside.”

His eyes fixed on her, for a moment, he pulled her closer.
 
Her heart raced, her mind blanked out anything other than the color of his eyes and the shape of his lips.
 
He leaned closer, his eyes locked on hers.
 
He tilted his head.
 
And then, the music changed to something loud and fast.
 
As if coming out of a trance, he shook his head and pulled away.
 
He let her go.

“I’m done with dancing,” he said.

Nodding and blushing, Lexa walked away to try to find some place to relax.
 
Everywhere she looked, there were people.
 
Making her way to the door, she slipped outside and sat on the stairs of the porch.

She stared up at the stars, her eyes invariably finding the area of the sky that contained her home world.
 
The star was difficult to see when her pupils were forced to stay human normal.
 
However, she took comfort in it being there.
 
The bodies of her parents were there.
 
She’d never see it again.

“You alright?”

She looked up to find Ryan standing there.
 
She blinked, “What?”

“You’re crying.
 
Are you alright?”

Putting her hands to her cheeks, she realized they were wet and she wiped away her tears.
 
She smiled up at him and found him staring at her with his storm gray gaze.
 
For a moment, her breath caught in her throat and then she looked away.

“Yes.
 
Yes, I’m fine.
 
Just remembering something from a long time ago.”

He sat next to her, his eyes going up to the same area of sky before turning to her.
 
He asked, “You like the stars?”

Like the stars?
 
She loved the stars.
 
She missed them.
 
What she wanted was to be back on her home with her family and sister and looking up at the stars all together.
 
Tonight was probably the first time she had really looked at the stars in a long time.
 
And they were all wrong.

“I did.”

He stared at her and she found herself blushing and looking up at the sky to avoid his gaze.
 
He remained silent and she marveled at how bright the stars were in the cold.
 
If she had been thinking properly, she would have realized that a normal human would be shivering by now.

“What happened?”

That brought her back and she smiled, “Nothing I care to talk about to someone who I just met.
 
No offense, I just don’t know you.”

“So Anna said the two of you move around a lot?
 
Why is that?”

Lexa wasn’t sure why Ryan was so curious, he ran a little hot and cold.
 
Their dance had sure been hot, but before real heat could ignite, he had cooled right off and left her.
 
Now he was back.
  

“Our parents work for Phaedon Corp.
 
They are moved around a lot.
 
Practically every year.”

He stared at her darkly, “Must get difficult.”

Lexa felt as if she was being examined, “It is.
 
We hate it, but what can you do?
 
Parents need to work.
 
At least they provide well for us.”

“Here you two are.”

She looked up to find Anna standing there.
 
She smiled up at her and said, “I’m hiding from the drinking.”

“Aren’t we all?
 
Ben and Missy are buzzed.
 
Think you can convince Ben to let you drive?”

“Yeah, I’ll go do that now,” Ryan got up and Lexa wasn’t sure if she was happy he was gone or she missed him.

“Sorry about Ryan,” Anna said.

She smiled at her, “He’s got the whole over protective sibling thing going.
 
I get it.
 
Lyssa’s just like that.”

“How is she doing, really?”

Lexa frowned and glanced up at the stars again.
 
She shook her head, “Honestly?
 
Awful.
 
I wish they’d just get back together.”

“Anything we can do to help?”

“Nothing I can think of.
 
But I’m taking suggestions.”

“And you really don’t know why they broke up?”

Lexa shifted uncomfortably, she hated lying, “No.
 
Lyssa won’t talk about it.”

About three hours later, Ryan finally convinced Ben and Missy that it was time to go.
 
She headed to the car and waited for them.
 
When they came out, Missy was leaning on Anna and Ben was stumbling next to Ryan.
 
Ryan kept an open arm, ready to catch them.

“Why the hell did they get so drunk?” she asked to no one in particular.
 
It just wasn’t in her make up to drink.
 
Or at least not to drink to excess.
 
Lyssa had said people on their world never drank to excess, but she could have been lying to convince Lexa not to.
 

“I don’t know,” Anna said, “I like remembering things too much to get like that.”

Ryan helped Ben into the passenger seat while Anna and Lexa got Missy in the back.
 
He said, “And one of us has to drive.”

As they headed home, Lexa said to no one in particular, “I hope they don’t throw up.
 
I’m so not up for that.”

Anna laughed.
 
Ryan said, “Don’t laugh, that’s a real possibility.”

Lexa was dropped off at home without incident.
 
As she got out of the car she asked, “How about you two?
 
How are you going to get home?”

Anna grinned out the window, “They’ll sleep over our house.
 
Otherwise, they’d get into trouble.
 
Or we’d have to steal the car.”

Lexa glanced at the driver’s seat.
 
Ryan looked less than thrilled.
 
She wondered how she could get him to smile.

“Ryan, it was nice to meet you.
 
Maybe we could all hang out again.
 
You know, without almost half of us getting wasted.”

He glanced out the window at her, “Maybe.
 
Night.”

Off he drove and Lexa was left wondering about him.
 
She just couldn’t understand if he didn’t like her on sight or…No that couldn’t be it.
 
She was sure he almost kissed her when they were dancing.
 
Either that or she was just hoping that was what he was going to do.

She entered into the house to find Lyssa in the same damn pair of pajamas.
 
Shaking her head, she walked over and shook her sleeping sister.
 
When she didn’t open her eyes, she shook her again more violently.
 
Lyssa looked up at her.

“What?”

“Get your ass in the shower.”

Lyssa rolled onto her side, without even chiding Lexa about her language.
 
She shook her sister roughly.

“Look, if you didn’t want to lose him, then you shouldn’t have.
 
He wasn’t upset about what we are; you were the one with the problem.
 
Suck it up!”